Obama Puts Focus on Latin America

By

David Luhnow in Mexico City and

Laura Meckler in Washington

Updated April 15, 2009 10:24 p.m. ET

President Obama will visit Latin America this week to reassure the region it will have a place in U.S. foreign policy, visiting Mexico and attending a regional summit in Trinidad and Tobago to take up issues including drug-related violence, the global economic crisis and U.S. policy toward Cuba. But the big question is whether the president can deliver much beyond goodwill.

"We want to correct the perception coming up from the South that in recent years the United States has turned its attention elsewhere," said Jeffrey Davidow, Mr. Obama's special adviser for the 34-nation Summit of the Americas, which will be held Friday and Saturday.

This week, for example, the Obama administration signaled a new approach to Cuba by easing restrictions on travel to the Communist island by Cuban-Americans and allowing U.S. telecommunications companies to create links with the country. However, Mr. Obama may be hard pressed to deliver concrete results from the trip. For instance, he is likely to stress the need to protect the region's poorest citizens from the global economic crisis, but may have little to offer beyond multilateral assistance already agreed upon at the recent Group of 20 nations meeting in London.

Symbolism over substance may also prevail during Mr. Obama's visit to Mexico on Thursday -- a trip meant to show support for Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who is cracking down on drug traffickers in an effort to stop a wave of violence. The government's assault may have worsened the violence in the short run, raising pressure on Mr. Calderon and casting Mexico in a negative light abroad.

The decision to visit Mexico is "a message of admiration for the courageous steps that President Calderon has undertaken," said Denis McDonough, director of strategic communication for the National Security Council.

Mr. Obama is also expected to say that the U.S. bears some responsibility for the drug violence in Mexico, both because demand for drugs comes from the U.S. and because many weapons bought in the U.S. end up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Mexico is lobbying the U.S. to reinstate a ban on assault weapons that expired under President George W. Bush, but administration officials suggest such a step is unlikely, stressing instead the need to enforce existing laws.

Also looming is a standoff over the rights of Mexican truckers to use U.S. highways. Last month, Mexico imposed tariffs on $2.4 billion of U.S. goods after Mr. Obama signed legislation that effectively shut down a pilot program that allowed some Mexican truckers to transport cargo beyond a 25-mile commercial zone inside the U.S. border. Mr. Obama will carry with him a set of principles that could guide a U.S. legislative proposal for discussion with Mr. Calderon, an administration official said.

Analysts say Mr. Obama is unlikely to raise the issue of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he promised to revisit when he was a candidate for president last year. And he may be able to promise Mr. Calderon some progress on efforts to achieve immigration reform that would create a path to citizenship for some immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

"All the issues on the agenda are difficult because of domestic political constituencies who are against change," said Ted Piccone, deputy director of the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, who served as director for Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton.

U.S. officials say the top issue for the Summit of the Americas will be the global economic crisis and its effects on the region. Mr. Obama is expected to encourage further support for the Inter-American Development Bank and for microfinance and education programs. Aides said he will also encourage nations to tap funds available through the International Monetary Fund. Mexico has already asked for a new IMF credit line, advisers noted.

Most analysts expect the trip to be more successful than the last regional summit four years ago in Argentina, where protests against then-President Bush, challenges by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, and bickering over a U.S. drive to create a hemisphere wide free-trade zone ended in acrimony. Mr. Obama's popularity in Latin America compared to his predecessor has complicated matters for Mr. Chavez, who regularly made the former president his foil, but hasn't figured out what to do yet about Mr. Obama, analysts say.

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